This invention relates to closures for a bottle, and more particularly to a bottle closure which provides controlled fluid communication with the interior of the bottle.
Bottles containing media of the kind used in certain medical and biomedical processes, such as cell culturing and the like, must be attached to laboratory equipment while remaining otherwise sealed from the atmosphere. To this end, bottle closures are provided which seal the bottle and yet provide for delivery of fluid to and/or from to the interior of the bottle so that the bottle can be connected to a closed system of laboratory equipment for communication with the system while remaining sealed from the atmosphere. Communication with the interior of the bottle is provided by tubes extending through the closure or screwed into openings in the closure. The tubes may be sealed by cementing them in the closure with a sealant or molding them into the closure, however when bottles of different heights are used a tube cemented or molded in the closure cannot be adjusted vertically to compensate.
In order to securely attach the closure to the bottle and aid in sealing the bottle, a screw cap may be used in conjunction with the closure. The cap and closure are separate, with the cap applied to the closure before it is inserted into the bottle. When the cap is screwed onto the bottle, it engages the closure and holds it on the bottle, sealing the closure with the bottle. However, the cap also engages the closure when it is unscrewed from the bottle causing the closure to turn which tends to break the seal of the closure with the bottle. The turning of the closure also twists the tubes connecting the bottle to the laboratory equipment and disturbs the laboratory equipment.